Research:
My research is in the field of evolutionary ecology, particularly the ecology and evolution of reproductive strategies in flowering plants. There are over 250,000 described species of flowering plants and much of this diversity involves variation in reproductive strategies. I'm particularly interested in:

1) Understanding what factors determine the allocation of resources to male function (pollen number and size, nectar and petals that attract pollinators and thus lead to the dispersal of pollen to other flowers) as opposed to female function (ovule number, seed number and size).
2) Understanding how breeding systems (inbreeding versus outcrossing) and plant-pollinator interactions affect gender allocation patterns.

I'm also interested in mentoring projects focusing on forest regeneration and controlling invasive plants species at our local nature preserve.

Recently, in collaboration with Prof Krukonis, we have started a project exploring the ecology and evolution of phages and their bacterial hosts. We have isolated 10 novel bacteriophages of Bacillus subtilis and are in the process of sequencing and assembling their genomes.